Fleur Flanery has won the women's 10-kilometre Canberra Times Fun Run three of the five times she entered, most recently in 2016. She has been training again for this year's race.
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"I run 160 kilometres every week," she said.
"I run every day, twice a day."
Every weekday morning, she goes running with her two dogs, a Dalmatian named Maggie and a kelpie named Lucy, and every afternoon, she goes on another run with a group of people.
"It's the best way to improve your running, someone to egg you along."
Ms Flanery said she had been running for nearly a month on weekends with a group of about 25 athletes trained by Dick Telford, "one of Australia's top sports coaches".
She said, "On Saturday we have an intensive session at the Stromlo cross-country course with Dick. ...On Sunday we do a long run, 28 kilometres to 35 kilometres."
But, she wanted to emphasise, despite all the training, it was enjoyment and the community aspect of running that gave the Fun Run its biggest appeal.
The 48-year-old, who is the executive director of the ACT government's Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, began running as a child while growing up on a farm in Galong, NSW along with her two older brothers.
"Dad built us a running track on the farm," she said.
"Our parents encouraged us to do athletics after school."
Her brothers were both state champions and while Ms Flanery ran when young, she said she didn't enjoy it very much. She stopped doing it for about 15 years while finishing high school and going through university and beginning her career, only taking it up again when she was about 30.
"Now, as an adult, I love it," she said.
She enjoyed the accessible paths and tracks and nature reserves around Canberra - "it's a fantastic city to run in" - and said she liked to run when she was overseas as a way to go exploring as well as competing.
"I competed for Australia in two Mountain Marathon World Championships in about 2005 and 2007 in Austria and England - I came in 17th in one and 15th or 16th in the other," she said.
"Mountain marathons are a particular form of agony," she said. They're 42 kilometres long but the elevation changes.
"In Austria it was up a ski run," she says.
"In England ... on the way down it was fell running, running fells, rock and mud."
The Canberra Times Fun Run should be a breeze by comparison. And afterwards, she said, she probably will go have breakfast with her husband Thomas, a very ardent supporter, at Yarralumla, and some friends.
The Canberra Times Fun Run is on Sunday, September 3, 2017. Enter before August 23 to save $10. See canberratimesfunrun.com.au.
